Tōkyō-to, Arakawa-ku, Nishinippori 3-4-8
諏方神社
東京都荒川区西日暮里3-4-8
April 17, 2026
Nearest station: Nishinippori Line: JR Yamanote Subway Chiyoda (C16)
Enshrined Kami:
Main
(Note: numbers in parentheses after kami names
refer to position in How Many Kami table)
Takeminakata-no-Mikoto (111) 建御名方命
In-ground Subordinate Shrines:
Mitsumine Jinja 三峰神社
Sanpoko Jinja 三宝荒神社
Suehiro Inari Jinja 末廣稲荷神社
Zenifuri Inari Jinja 銭降稲荷神社
Annual Festival: August 27
Said to have been founded in 1202 by Toshino Yatsutsune, a military commander of the time and head of the Toshima clan. Take-minakata-Mikoto, the kami of the main Suwa Jinja in Nagano, was enshrined via the bunrei process.
Sometime around 1446 Ota Dokan, the founder of Edo Castle, donated land to the shrine, as later did the third Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu. The shrine originally seems to have been located at the foot of a mountain but in 1635 the mountain summit was levelled and the shrine was moved to its present location. It came to be regarded as the guardian shrine of Yanaka and Nippori, and a torii and koma-inu presented to the shrine by the then equivalent of the Yanaka fire brigade are still to be seen.
It was damaged during the firebombing of March 1945 and rebuilt in 1952.
Those among my readers who read Japanese may have noticed that the second kanji in this Suwa Jinja’s name, “諏方”, is different from that in the name of the head Suwa Jinja in Nagano, “諏訪”. The shrine’s homepage tells us while the latter is the original and current name of the head Suwa Jinja—and virtually all other Suwa Jinja as far as I can determine—the “諏方” version did come into quite widespread use during medieval and early modern times, even in official records. In 1834, however, after the authorities of Takashima Domain, where Suwa was located, issued a directive saying that “諏訪” was the correct name, “諏方” gradually fell out of use. This jinja’s justification for continuing to use the “諏方” version is that it has in its possession a hanging scroll written by Hosoi Kotaku, a mid-Edo period Confucian scholar and calligrapher, which refers to it as “諏方大明神” (Suwa Daimyojin).
click images to expand
